Nearly every vehicle owner has experienced the inconvenience of turning the ignition key of his or her vehicle and hearing, instead of a starting engine, little more than the click of the rotating ignition key cylinder. In many instances, such a failure of the engine to start is the result of a "dead" battery. A dead or uncharged vehicle battery usually is the result of an excessive electrical drain placed on the battery. The most typical situation causing such an excessive drain is when the lights of the vehicle are left on for a lengthy time period after the vehicle engine has been turned off. Other well-known causes of a dead battery include extreme cold weather and excessive age of the battery. However, if often is possible to recharge a dead or low charged battery by electrically connecting it to a sufficiently charged battery, and especially the charged battery of another vehicle.
The means for electrically connecting a dead battery to a charged battery for the purpose of "jump-starting" the vehicle having the uncharged battery usually comprises a pair of electrical conductors or wires, with each wire having a clamp attached to each of its ends. This wire and clamp assembly is commonly referred to as a booster cable. Batteries of the type installed in most vehicles today have a pair of terminal posts incorporated therein, with one of the posts being positively charged and the other post being negatively charged. The posts are used for electrically connecting the vehicle battery to the starter and a ground of the vehicle and for jump-starting purposes. During the jump-starting procedure, similarly charged terminal posts of the batteries are electrically connected by engaging the clamps of one of the booster cables therewith. The engine of the vehicle having the charged battery is running during this procedure so that the charge of its battery can be transmitted through the cables to recharge the dead battery.
The proper procedure for jump-starting a vehicle with a dead battery must be carefully followed to insure that similarly charged terminal posts of the two batteries are indeed connected by separate cables. Unfortunately, individuals unfamiliar with such a procedure often attempt to jump-start a vehicle to avoid the cost of having a trained mechanic perform the procedure, or to avoid being without transportation until the mechanic arrives. Such attempts can have serious consequences. If the polarities of the batteries are mismatched or reversed, that is, a positive post of one battery is connected to a negative post of the other battery, serious damage can occur to the batteries, booster cables, and even the electrical systems of the vehicles. Furthermore, and most importantly, electrical connection of two batteries in a state of reversed polarity, or in series instead of in parallel, can cause an explosion placing the individual performing the jump-start procedure at great risk of personal injury, especially to the eyes.
Most booster cables and battery posts are color coded and/or have plus (+) and minus (-) symbols indicated in an obvious location on the cables or battery as the major safeguard against polarity reversal during jump-starting. However, such colors and symbols often are obscured if the jump-start procedure is performed in darkness or poor weather conditions. Moreover, an individual unfamiliar with proper jump-starting procedure may totally disregard the significance of the colors and symbols. Thus, the color and symbol system merely aids in the proper connection of the booster cables to the batteries for an individual familiar with proper jump-starting procedure, rather than preventing improper connection thereof.
Finally, in order to successfully jump-start a vehicle, satisfactory electrical contact must be achieved between the booster cable clamps and the terminal posts of the batteries, in addition to proper polarity connections therebetween. Such satisfactory contact often is prevented because of heavy corrosion build-up on the terminal posts. This condition can be remedied only by a thorough cleaning of the posts prior to attempting the jump-start procedure, and more particularly, prior to attaching the cable clamps to the posts for establishing electrical contact therebetween. Such cleaning can be difficult and time-consuming, and is particularly inconvenient when attempting to jump-start a vehicle in darkness or in poor weather, or when time is of the essence. Moreover, such corrosion build-up can block the transmission of electric current from the battery to the starter of the vehicle, which prevents starting of the vehicle even where the battery is sufficiently charged.
The known prior art includes various safety devices for reducing the possiblity of personal injury and property damage during a jump-starting procedure, and can be found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,936,121; 3,942,027; 4,006,952; 4,180,746; 4,217,534; 4,272,142; 4,286,172; 4,349,774; 4,386,818; 4,400,658; 4,496,204; 4,527,111; and 4,607,209. In addition, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,261,634 and 4,647,139 show adapter devices for electrically connecting auxiliary, special purpose equipment such as lights, appliances etc. to a vehicle for operating such equipment. U.S. Pat. No. 4,560,230 discloses a jumper cable connection system which provides for secure attachment of the jumper cable clamps to the battery terminal posts during a jump-start procedure.
The closest known prior art to my improved vehicle battery assembly is shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,466,453; 4,079,304; and 4,157,492. These patents disclose several types of plug connectors for electrically connecting a pair of batteries through an electrical cable for recharging a certain one of the batteries. However, the systems disclosed in these patents utilize battery terminal posts which can prevent transmission of electric current to the starter of a vehicle due to corrosion build-up on the posts. Other disadvantages of these systems include expensive and complex regulating and switching devices, as well as requiring opening of the engine compartment hood of the vehicle to access the system for jump-starting purposes.
There is no known vehicle battery system of which I am aware, other than my present invention, which enables a jump-starting procedure to be rapidly carried out without the possibility of reversal of the polarity of the batteries being electrically connected and with little or no danger of explosion of the batteries, which enables an individual to quickly and easily recharge a dead battery without opening the engine compartment hood of either vehicle, and which can be quickly and easily installed in new or existing vehicles.